This Old Coffee Shop
by go-ahead-and-try
Summary: Zhuo worries about Yue. Azula calls her out on it. trigger warning: implied eating disorder


**Prompt: "What a shame that bitter irony has no nutritional value."**

**Modern AU**

**Trigger warning: implied eating disorder**

**Hey! This is a one-shot for Haruka. I suppose it should probably have been uploaded earlier, but I lost my internet and then I wasn't liking the beginning. So, here it finally is! Zhuo is the OC that Haruka created for a fanfiction we'll be writing together one day soon, _Long, Hard, Lonely Winter_ (which will not be Modern AU).**

**ATLA - ATLA - ATLA**

Zhuo sat at the small table in the café, impatiently drumming her fingers. Her shoulder-length black hair was uncharacteristically pulled into two braids, each brushing her jaw line as she glanced between the two different entrances. She was never one for being early to a meeting, and she now remembered why. She was horribly impatient. Any form of waiting, no matter for how long, drove her mad. There was nothing for her to do but drum her fingers and curse the lack of traffic on the way to the little shop. Her long legs were neatly crossed at the ankle, giving the illusion they were even longer in their gray skinny jeans. She wrinkled her nose as she pulled the sleeves of her black sweater down. She was worried its lack of fit meant that her friend Yue had done something to it, or that it was actually Yue's. They were relatively the same size, but Yue was a good three inches shorter.

_Finally_, she mentally grumbled. She caught sight of the brother-sister duo that made up half her party as they walked in. The male was visibly uneasy, leaning slightly forward in his shoulders, emphasized by the leather jacket he was wearing. His female counterpart looked every bit of royal as she truly was. Her leather miniskirt was an inch or so short of the middle of her thighs, but her legs weren't overexposed as her shins were covered in more black leather, this time in the form of high-heeled boots. Her torso was encased in red so tightly, that she could have very easily been wearing a long-sleeve leotard.

Zhuo raised a hand above her head and waved, catching the attention of both of them as they ordered their drinks. The girl, Azula, waved back with a small smile. The boy, Zuko, simply smiled for a moment. For as close-knit as their group of four really was, Zuko only ever really connected to Yue. It was interesting; Zhuo loved watching them as they acted like they were in their own private world.

The siblings sat down at the table, Zuko glancing just for a moment at the empty seat between himself and Zhuo, knowingly reserved for Yue. The smallest member of the circle lived within walking distance, but also worked erratic hours as a costume designer without her own workshop. She worked out of her studio apartment, where the group had spent countless hours chatting, eating, and watching movies. Zhuo lived in her own apartment the next neighborhood over, having moved away from her parents at the earliest available age - she'd gotten the tiny one-bedroom as an eighteenth birthday present to herself. She'd since upgraded to a nicer apartment, but it was still only her. She liked it that way. Yue had constant company, though; she'd moved into her own place following her acceptance into a local arts college, and shortly thereafter adopted an energetic chocolate Labrador puppy named Emma, after a character in the quirky musical _Jekyll & Hyde_, a personal favorite of Yue's. Zuko and Azula lived with their father in their large house just outside of Hollywood - their mother had passed away when they were young.

"Earth to Zhuo!" Azula exclaimed, waving a hand in front of her friend's face. Zhuo snapped to attention, not having even realized that she had spaced out.

"Sorry," she commented offhand, not entirely apologetic. "I was just trying to figure out how much longer Yue's going to be." She absentmindedly reached for her coffee cup, scratching at the rough surface of the holder with her short nails. It was nearly full, but that didn't bother her at all. The cup was opaque, and the coffee was cold and black, so she wasn't going to drink it now in any case. Her cookie had been reduced to small crumbs inside its bag, looking like she'd eaten it. Her stomach weakly protested, but she didn't care. She hadn't eaten anything in the past few days, nor had she drunk much beyond water.

"That girl always takes her time," Azula complained. She was the manifestation of every bratty princess you'd ever read about in a picture book, but she was a welcome friend to the other three. Of course, the average passerby wouldn't believe in the least that Zuko and Azula were friends, but the other two in the group knew that they cared for each other.

Almost as though on cue, Zuko mumbled something about being nicer to his sister as he adjusted his hair to cover the most of his scar from the people standing in line. He'd gotten a burn across his eye seven or so years ago, an incident with his father he never went into detail about. He was very conscious of it, but none of the others really were. It was just part of who he was.

A beat later, Yue stuck her head into the café, motioning for them to come outside to her. Zuko got up and went out to her without question, causing the two girls he left at the table to laugh. It was pretty obvious how much the two lit up whenever they were around each other. It was then that Zhuo realized that Yue had Emma on a leash, and the café didn't allow pets inside.

"Zuzu's pretty taken with her," Azula commented offhand, using her pet name for her brother, which he hated with every bit of him.

Zhuo smiled. "Yue's pretty partial to him herself." She tilted her head slightly, watching as Yue's bony joints bent, where exposed by her orange romper, as she sat down.

"What's the matter?" Azula asked, drawing Zhuo's attention back to her. "Worried she can't handle him?" It was only after she'd said it that Zhuo realized she was teasing.

"No, nothing like that," she answered seriously. "Yue's just really tiny. She's been shrinking this year. I can only hope summer will be beneficial for her."

Azula scoffed, standing up abruptly and grabbing her coffee. "What a shame bitter irony has no nutritional value." She then literally turned up her nose and marched outside. Zhou cursed her friend's - and her crush's - observant eye as she tossed both her coffee and her obliterated cookie into the trash before following her friends outdoors. This would be something Azula would continue to hold over her head. She just knew it.

**ATLA - ATLA - ATLA**

**Okay. I like knowing how to pronounce character's names, so I'm going to tell you how I pronounce the two OCs' names. In case anyone reading this is like me (in that respect, at least).**

**Zhuo - z-oo-oh (like "Zuko" without the interrupting consonant)**

**Yue - you-eh**

**Let me know how you liked it!**

**xoxo,**

**Evelyn**


End file.
